


when the stars threw down their spears

by supernoodle



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Tigertaur AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:08:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24462544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/supernoodle/pseuds/supernoodle
Summary: When Sanji sees the new dishboy's half-tiger swordsman, lying with four great paws neatly tucked in, navigating silverware with practiced caution around long claws while his steak bleeds on the plate, he stops. The late morning sunlight plays over stripes and turns the orange flaming, and Sanji remembers the exact night Zeff told a story from an island on the Grand Line about people part animal, not fishmen or minks or mermaids, but something else – something hidden.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 62





	when the stars threw down their spears

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the animal crew au by birbforthewin on tumblr! Except I started it before she'd done anyone else so it's just tigertaur zoro.
> 
> GO LOOK AT HER ART NOW, IT'S AMAZING

They tell stories on the Baratie, over dishes and dinners and deck swabbing and in the rare times when the food is prepared and the customers haven't arrived or have gone and they're not all tripping with exhaustion. It becomes a kind of event, then, with spiced wine and toasted nuts and other snacks, the central fire open so that the gentle smell of the wood and the whispering of the flames runs under everything and renders the room of rough men and women gilt in orange and amber. They all tell stories, mundane to fantastical, about harvest and hearth on islands and ships, familiar and unfamiliar. All of them have been to at least two of the Blues, some to the Grand Line, but none as far as Zeff.

When Zeff spins stories – rarely – he does it sitting right next to the fire, tankard resting on his good knee and bad leg stretched out, and he tells it slow, savoring memories.

When Sanji listens to stories, he remembers that rough voice sketching a fight with a Calm Belt sea king that fed seven villages, or the lacy petals of a small white flower that melted on the tongue and tasted like honey. Fantasy and adventure.

When Sanji sees the new dishboy's half-tiger swordsman, lying with four great paws neatly tucked in, navigating silverware with practiced caution around long claws while his steak bleeds on the plate, he stops. The late morning sunlight plays over stripes and turns the orange flaming, and Sanji remembers the exact night Zeff told a story from an island on the Grand Line about people part animal, not fishmen or minks or mermaids, but something else – something hidden.

“What kind of beast is that?” Patty asks, frowning as he looks around Sanji at the door.

Sanji opens his mouth to snap _don't you remember_ – when Zeff looks around both of them, hat brushing the doorframe, and snorts.

“That's a customer,” he says, over Patty grumbling something about sanitation. “If you want a beast, look to the idiot who ordered Würzberger Stein to go with the soup.”

 _Würzberger?_ With the _soup?_ Sanji scoffs and dismisses their Grand Line guest in favor of educating yet another tasteless caveman.

* * *

“I'm sorry!” Chopper blurts out, rubbing his hooves together.

Zoro opens his eyes fully, and they're golden like the Lahpan but smarter, gentler. Slowly, he gets up from his sprawl and rolls onto his stomach. His paws are neatly folded but they're bigger than Chopper's head so it's not very comforting. Then, he reaches out and takes one of Chopper's hooves.

His fingers are claw-tipped and very gentle when he shakes it, like they're meeting for the first time.

“Neither of us are animals,” he says.

Well, technically they're both at least partly animal even if Zoro won't tell them why and hasn't eaten a devil fruit, but it's true that neither of them act all the way like animals anymore, which means Zoro doesn't have to hunt Chopper for dinner and Chopper doesn't have to be afraid – and then he's crying, and Zoro's ears go back and his eyes get huge. It looks exactly like when Chopper scared one of Doctorine's cats, and he giggles through tears.

“Tell that to your _table manners_ , mosshead!” Sanji yells from the balcony.

Zoro whips around and snarls, and it's still a little scary but his hand is still gentle where he's holding Chopper's.

* * *

Watching a half-tiger slipping on a slope with his fur greased down is funny until he puts his swords away and claws his way up with all six sets of claws, slicked fur rippling and bunching over muscles like a strongman. He didn't think cats could be buff.

When they reach the Black Cat Pirates and the captain with his “claws,” the tiger – Zoro – starts laughing, head thrown back and _fangs_ on display and maybe Usopp would laugh like that too if he was half-tiger and some guy started bragging about being a cat because he put knives on his fingers.

It's terrifying, the whole thing is terrifying, and the real actual pirates coming to really, actually kill him and his village and Kaya are only really, actually scary for a few minutes. Zoro and Luffy are monsters, like from story books, too strong and too weird and too bloody, but they beat up the Black Cat Pirates and Luffy yells at them about what it means to be a pirate and Usopp even got some shots in there too, even though he was nervous at first about firing at people and when he stood up between them and his village he thought his stomach was going to crawl away to live in a nice safe cave and he wanted to follow, but he stood up anyway, and Luffy sounds just like the shining knights, and the straw hat on his head catches the light and goes all gold, and Zoro is sitting behind him with his swords and bandana and fangs and his coat all lit up like fire and blood, and Usopp is strangely unafraid.

After the Black Cat Pirates are all beat up and he spends a little while wheezing on the ground, Luffy starts moaning about being hungry. There's no way he has enough food to satisfy the appetites he caught a glimpse of at the restaurant, but unless Zoro wants to hunt for them they're going to have to go back to town. Maybe they could get enough loot from the Black Cats to pay for dinner…?

Zoro yawns – terrifying, so many teeth – and stretches – _terrifying_ , so many _claws_ – before mumbling that they should head back to town, which Usopp points out is a great idea and great warriors think alike and of course the mighty victors should celebrate with their spoils –

Nami comes over the hill, and behind her is Kaya. Kaya has the Usopp Pirates with her too, and he gets up because the Great Captain Usopp wouldn't be laid low by a measly pirate crew. Pepper and Onion run up yelling. Carrot trails behind even when Usopp starts telling them the story of his mighty battle.

Zoro and Luffy are getting yelled at by Nami. Luffy's laughing. Zoro shouts back at Nami and it has an edge like thunder and wild animals and the monster under the bed, and then Nami whips her fist over his head and his weird green hair sticks up from all the grease and Luffy is rolling around on the ground with his laughing and really, what's there to be afraid of?

* * *

Nighttime on the Thousand Sunny is far removed from the foggy emptiness of the Florian Triangle. Sunny herself gleams in the slightest of light, and the wind touches grass and trees as well as rigging and sails. Brook can smell flowers, green and growing things, night-blooming jasmine and tangerine blossoms. Dinner, usually, or the breakfast preparations, given he takes dawn and dusk watch when the moon isn't out, bread rising at other times. Often a pot of tea at hand.

Luffy wakes early, Sanji earlier, Nami emerging for brief moments through the night to check headings and weather. Robin will sit with him with a book and a cup of coffee after dinner, and cares for her books and research late into the night. Franky goes to bed early except for when repairs or the muses keep him up, and Chopper earliest when the infirmary isn't busy.

And Zoro keeps him company at all hours, eyes flashing in the dark.

More than once in his early days as a Strawhat he'd stirred the entire ship with alarm when Zoro passed by in silence or suddenly emerged into the lantern-light. He moves like a ghost! Most alarming. 

Zoro starts warning him with a soft greeting or quiet hum, and then Brook settls into the rhythms of the ship and finds his nighttime companion pleasant company. It's a wonderful thing to see someone so young full of energy, with the enthusiasm of the hunt and the wildness of the moonlight. It's almost a shame they don't have the space for a proper hunting, the kind where Brook used to carry a pistol at his belt he never used in favor of testing the strength of his arm and the speed of his blade against the creatures of a hundred islands, under the moon and through the jungles and always with the pounding of his blood in his veins.

Not that he has blood now, yohoho!

Perhaps a thought for the next time they stopped at an island. In the meantime, Zoro slinks down the winding path Franky had built to the mast in silence, stands in the grass and breathes deep for long moments. Then he draws his swords in a silvered blink and hunts shadows.

**Author's Note:**

> title from the tyger by william blake


End file.
